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Birmingham 140t Metal Recycling Press

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DCS Special Projects were tasked with ensuring the safe passage of a 140t 4.4m wide Press base from Harwich Intentional Port to a Metal Recycling facility in Birmingham, once DCS Special Projects received the trailer combination and dimensions the client requested that route assessment was carried out to ensure both the Truck and Load could pass without any hindrance.

The base was transported on a 10 axle modular trailer with a 4 axle MAN tractor unit due to number of axles the total length of the transport then became 27meters long, DCS took all of these factors into account on the route assessment and found that trying to move the load into Birmingham during the day would be extremely challenging and would cause unnecessary disruption to one Birmingham’s busy arterial public transport and commuter routes, Because of this the only option was to bring the Base in during the early hours of the morning when traffic is at its quietest.

The length of the journey meant that the trip had to be split into two half’s leaving Harwich at 09:30 with two of DCS Abnormal Load Escort vehicles and making their way to Corley Services on the M6 providing the driver with a safe environment to have their 9hour break from driving due to load having to begin again at 00:00 the transport had to be parked in Corley by 15:00 at the latest.

The Base left Corley at 00:00 onto the M6 then onto the M42 then to the A45 towards Birmingham’s city Centre winding their way through the bus lanes and traffic calming finally arriving at the metal recycling facility at 04:30 where the prior organised parking had been placed to allow the crane to enter before the base and be rigged up at 07:00 once the crane was rigged DCS Special projects Steersman then assisted the driver of the truck to precisely place the trailer into the designated lifting area and remove the chains.

Once the base had been lifted off of the transport the steersman again assisted the driver of the truck steering the trailer from underneath the crane and aligning the fully steerable axles straight and prepared the trailer for travelling.

DCS Abnormal Load Escort vehicles then escorted the truck and trailer back out of Birmingham to the M6 motorway.

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DCS Special Projects For Your Abnormal Loads

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DCS Special projects where involved in the placement of a switch room in the rural Worcestershire country side from start to finish. This particular job started in Leicester and involved the crews assisting  Leicester Heavy Haulage on moving the switch room out of site and along its route to Worcestershire, the switch room due to the tight location alongside the railway was required to be loaded on a 10 axle bogie with a drawbar hitch connection to the 4 axle MAN.

After leaving the M5 motorway the special project crew was joined by one of our escorts who assisted in winding the load down through the twisting lanes to the railways site. On arrival at the special projects crews steersman was put to work alongside Leicester heavy haulage’s steersman and tasked with getting the load in to the jacking position. The two steersman where necessary as the 10 axle bogie has to be steered at both ends commonly known as a counter steering trailer. The two steersman and the lorry driver all communicate using radios steering the load in to position with millimetre accuracy.

The load was then unchained and the jacking teams then got to work jacking the switch room up to a position so that the trailer could be pulled from underneath and the wrapped up ready for leaving site.

After steering the trailer out of site there was not enough room to turn around so the steersman had to steer and guide the truck 1.5 miles in reverse back up the lane to a point big enough to turn around, the empty trailer and truck was then escorted back out to the M5.